talking. >> sue, have a great weekend. may your power stay on. for all those out of power, may it come back on. "street signs" begins right now. the fight over the fiscal cliff is officially on. the president saying le not sign a deal without a tax hike. house speaker boehner says the ball is in the president's court. which side will be dr. no? will the markets live to die another day? stocks turning down after the president's speech. plus, a well known tech ipo and a retailer both getting the living day lights knocked out of them. and diamonds are forever. and apparently so is james bond. why "sky fall" may be the biggest bond yet. after all, the world is not enough, mandy. absolutely, the dow is hardly a thunder bolt today, brian. it was trying to win back some of the losses of the last two days but it turned red in the last hour not long after the president spoke and

marginally higher. the dow now on track for its fourth losing week in five. major averages have not had a winning streak as long as three days in over three weeks. the s&p 500 riding a streak of seven losing fridays in a row. these last two hours of trade, folks, are going to be very important. they will decide whether or not it breaks that streak today. the nasdaq has been today's outperformer. it, too, however has lost some steam. mary thompson is manning the stock exchange today. mary, what's happened to our rebound? >> mandy, i think some investors were waiting for a "kumbaya" moment when the president came to speak. he basically said listen, i'm the victor here. he certainly wasn't willing to concede everything initially. so again, i think a number of people are interpreting this with the republicans and democrats still actually having a lot of ground to cover to get to some kind of compromise before avoiding the fiscal cliff. as a result, the dow which was up 60 points when the president began to talk earlier today is now down one. as a result, the dow movers --

disney down after missing revenue. united health care, the president did mention that he would seek additional cuts through health care and so that's under a bit of pressure. hewlett-packard and walmart contributing to the dow's weaker performance, walmart accounting for three points of the weakness in the dow. among sectors we continue to see weakness in utilities, hard hit lately, and consumer discretionary. to the plus side, tech and industrials outperforming in today's session. i want to highlight a couple of tech stocks. apple having its best day in three weeks today and google its best day in two months. thank you, mary tomorrow ton on the floor of the nyse. rick santelli, your reaction to the president's speech, please. >> well, i was by the s&p pit when the president was talking and the minute he pulled out the pen and talked about how the senate already had a bill passed, keep 98% under the current rates and left the rest of the rates rise, the traders

started selling the s&ps. you saw what happened at 1:00 eastern, a little after 1:00 eastern when we saw that sell-off. but it has stabilized. any movement that was in treasuries or in the dollar seemed to be also associated with equities. so down here, if you're looking at interest rates, now that the downside of stocks at least for the moment seem to have slowed, we see that we've really hunkered down on interest rates which for the last 30 minutes, 2s, 5s, 10s and 30s are at the same lace that they were. >> ground hog day in bonds. thank you very much, rick santelli. the president speaking out on the fiscal cliff and standing his ground on higher taxes for wealthier americans. he said he is willing to compromise a bit but not on taxes. >> that's the only way we can still afford to train our workers or help our kids pay for college. or make sure that good jobs and clean energy or high-tech manufacturing don't end up in countries like china. >> let's discuss and bring in

jared bernstein, senior fellow at the center on budget and policy priorities and former chief economist for vice president joe biden. tony fratto, former white house deputy press secretary, both cnbc contributors. i hope after that intro we have time for the actual interview. guys, it's friday. i like you both so i'm going to apologize in advance to what's about to happen to both of you. i am so frustrated by both parties. jared, first to you. if you listen to what the president just said, he has basically toll the american people that if we raise taxes on 250k-plus earners, we can solve every problem that we've got -- jobs, college, roads, whatever it is. right? it's chump change! it's petty cash. >> well, no, no, no, no. it's interesting because i actually feel a little bit better than you about where things are. not just because we won. the thing that i've been hearing over the last couple of days, leader boehner, the president today, is agreement on this point on revenues. you make a great point, brian.

it's not going to solve everything. but, by the way, there is $1 trillion of deficit savings on those upper income tax expirations. that's about 25%, about one-fourth of that -- it is one-fourth of that $4 trillion that the president's been talking about. >> it's generous friday. most estimates are $40 billion to $80 billion. joint committee on taxation, $467 billion. the president nis "new york times" two months ago, $800 billion over ten years. jared, the federal government's talk -- >> i'm talking over ten years. that's 25% of the way towards the goal on deficit reduction. we have also cut -- the president mentioned this today -- we've also cut over $1 trillion in spending already. we are actually half the way there. it's not going to be easy to get the other half but things are brighter than i think you're -- >> i like brightness. it is a hopium channel here. tony, to you. i'm going to yell at you equally. why are the republicans being such obstinate idiots over such

a small a money. here's the reality, my wife is successful. do i okay. i'm going to pay higher taxes. i'm willing to pay them. i don't understand why the gop sl holding its ground over such a stupid amount of money. >> i think what the markets heard today, my god, we're talking about exactly the same thing again which is whether to raise rates on $250,000 and above or not. the republican view is that high rates with lots of big tax expenditures is generally bad economic policy. if we want to talk about lowering rates and doing more to fix deductions, credits and cleaning up the tax code, that's better policy, even if it results in higher tax revenue. so i do like the fact that -- i like to hear speaker boehner talking about greater revenue. think we're all good with

greater revenue. >> tony, i'm not trying to insult the american people here. okay? i can go out an have a conversation about raising taxes on rich people or i could have a conversation about minimizing deductions and exemptions to raise the net effect of federal income tax rate. which is a more succinct and smart political argument? the former. that's why the president's having it and that's why mitt romney's tax plan didn't go anywhere, because nobody can understand it. >> let me weigh in on that. i think what you're saying, brian, is actually very important in the following sense. it's really easy to say clean up the code, broaden the base, get rid of those nasty deductions and loopholes. every single deduction and loophole is somebody's treasure job creation program. it is true it is cleaner -- a majority of the public from the exit polls to support the sunset of of the top rates. president won. too often these discussions are like, okay, mr. president, you won, here is our list of demands. >> but 230 house members won, also. this is exactly what i am talking about.

i go back to your intro, brian. how about never say never again on some of these? >> nice. you actually listened! you're the one, tony. >> i'm not the one. we're all the one. right? everybody has their own thing that they want to protect. the president is -- are entitlements going to be a part of it and will health care entitlements be a part of it? >> let me point out something, tony. it's interesting. i don't think the president mentioned rates in that speech. i don't think the word rates. >> that's a good sign. >> so, look. i heard chuck schumer today say something to the effect of, look, if we have to stick at 35 and find base broadeners. so maybe there is some traction in a deal like that. but not yet. not yet. >> i lot of optimism you guys are coming together, it is terrific. as i pointed out, the government makes more in ear reasoness medicare payments every year that it will likely bring in with the buffett rule. that aside, what i'm frustrated by, guys, is when do we hear from the president that america, the tax heights on the wealthy,

while nice, are a couple of days of federal government revenue. they'll make a little difference but there are so many bigger things out there. that's why i want to pass -- >> he ran on that point! you've heard that for years now. >> what we just heard was a tax hike on the rich is going to create jobs and pay for college and nobody's going to have to pay for anything. >> he's got a set of negotiations to deal with. he's not sitting where you are on this. >> jared, i had to go back and look, but the president four days before inauguration in 2009 said i am going to spend political capital. we need to spend political capital to fix social security. right? here we are nearly four years later. go back and look at january 16, 200039. he said i will spend political capital on social security. we haven't seen that yet. that would be the kind of olive branch we could see, saying we're going to do this in a really serious way. >> i think that's a fair point and perhaps there is a deal that says where house republicans say, mr. president, we understand you won, you get those top tax rate expirations and in return we need to do

something on the economy. >> guys, i love what you're saying but we've got to rise above in this country about who won and who lost. right? who cares? we're all going to lose if we don't fix it. when you look at the demographic profile of this country, right, and medicare spending and social security payments, 7,500 people every hour turning 60 years old. they're spending money on medicare, extracting probably more than they ever paid in, by far in some cases. post-obama, post-next president, whoever it is, they're looking to fix that now. >> the president was clear both today and in his budget that medicare and medicaid are on the table. tony wants social security to be on that table, too. that's worth having a discussion about. >> thank you, tony, final question to you. do the republicans have the political cajones to go to their base, the seniors and say, i'm sorry, you may not get everything you paid for because 30 years ago we didn't realize people were going to stop having kids. >> i think that's a question for

both parties. i think that's a question for both parties. we tried to do social security reform and we found opposition from both democrats and republicans to do more on social security reform. i think both parties really need to come together on that. >> guys, thank you. your pins are in the mail, by the way. mandy's going to carry the rest of the show because i'm completely expired. >> i like your passion, brian. >> i care! you know? pins are in the mail, gentlemen. small business owners are crying out, how can they create jobs with pending tax hikes next year while also preparing for rising health care costs at the same time. let's bring in matt tyler, president and ceo of vicars engineering. i believe your biggest concern is your taxes going up. how is that going to affect your business? >> it absolutely affects our business because what a lot of people don't understand -- i'm fearful that there are people in the administration who don't understand -- is that small businesses aren't just small mom and pop shops. there are 100 employee, 200 employee, 500 employee operations that have the ability

to compound every year 50, 60, 70 employees a year. we created 50 jobs last year. we think we're going to create 30 to 50 more next year but the profits of my cap because i am a small business owner flow directly to my tax return. so the company actually has to help cover my ktax obligations. as i am being lumped in to that category that president obama's referring to, it's actually a small business corporate tax increase as to what he's really creating. >> this is going to stop you from hiring people or hurt you from hiring more people? >> absolutely. because at the end of the year we're trying to re-invest as much money into the business as we can. we're actually out there buying equipment, we're actually out there hiring employees, going after new work. our biggest concern right now we have on a weekly basis is cash flow because we're growing. now at the end of the year we actually have to carve out more money and more cash out of our potential budget to pay taxes as opposed to going out and buying more equipment which creates more jobs and away we go. so if it makes all the sense in the world to lower a corporate

tax rate for the big boys, why doesn't it make sense to lower the small business corporate tax rate? that's not even what we're talking about. we're talking about increasing the corporate tax rate on small businesses. that just doesn't make sense. i'm all about the revenue creation and solving the problem. but you can't have it both ways. you can't have job creation and revenue creation by attacking the people that are actually trying to create the jobs. >> we always say there are certainties in life such as death and taxes. to add to it, health care costs keep on rising as well. how will obama care affect your business? >> that's a little bit of an enigma. one thing that's certain, our costs continue to go up. as we are growing, we're in a very traditional industrial base industry. we're a machining and fabrication company. we compete globally. we're in automotive, in oil and gas. it is very, very expensive to create jobs. it costs us $6,000 a year per employee in health care let alone unemployment costs and workers compensation costs, things of that nature.

as we are going forward we're trying to us a automation and robotics more and more and more to help not only grow our company, be more productive and effective, but the fact of the matter is we compound our growth. we can't compound with the same amount of employee job creation. so we're going to continue to grow but we're actively trying to minimize it because of things like health care costs. >> automation is a very mixed blessing for all the people who lose their jobs. thank you very much for giving your snapshot on the ground there, matt. on deck, it's back to being happy. our fiscal cliff worries keeping you out of stocks? re-election. your next guest says everything's just fine. >> everything's fine. and, bond is back. the 23rd james bond movie is getting amazing reviews. but has the super spy finally sold out? we'll explain that. here is a trivia question for you, america. adjusted for inflation, what is the highest grossing james bond flick of all time? tweet us. the answer coming up. ♪

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there are reasons to be bullish. joining us, tony, i know you got a pretty aggressive target on the s&p 500 of about 1,650. my friend, how we getting there? >> actually i think it is a little bit conservative. we're getting there at a 15 multiple on 110 in earnings. current bottom up consensus number is 113.70. we're below the street. the reason i get a 15 multiple is historically when you have core inflation between 1% and 3% the market trades at a 19 multiple. typically up until last year it trades at least a 15 multiple. using a minimal multiple expectation and a below consensus number and pretty close to being high on street and i think it is too low. credit is doing so well and we're into this environment where people feel like it is all falling apart. ultimately you have the opposite

now with corporate credit new issuance market on fire meaning in a good way and with yields up until the last couple of days near record lows. until you shut down money availability, you don't go into recession. if you don't go into recession, you go up. >> paul, do you see any holes in the argument that tony just put forward for being so bullish? >> i i agree with tony on the point valuations are low right now. the credit markets are positive. but i think in the short term here we have this big issue obviously with the fiscal cliff and brian, in your first segment, you had both sides, democrats saying they won and republicans saying they won in the house. so each side is -- seems to be digging in their heels more. >> my way or the highway, right? >> the president may have been more conciliatory but each one wants the other side to bend to their will. >> i don't want to get into politics again because i'm burned out, i don't like politics anyway, paul bup if they give in they're going to appear weak. right? it is very risky.

>> yeah, that's the problem. it is a standstill. if the fiscal cliff -- it's become almost a greater likelihood now than since before the election so that's why we see the markets selling off. >> tony,ky ask you one quick question? paul krugman was out saying media outlets like ours and other folks were basically overselling the fiscal cliff and that it was more after gentle slope. i agree, things are going to hit. so it is not like january 1 everyone's going broke and we're instantly going into recession. how severe though do you believe it really to be? >> i think if it were to happen, it would have a definitely sluggish effect but ultimately it comes down to this -- think about the term don't fight the fed. right? why isn't it follow the fed? the reason is because every cycle we find things unique to that cycle that cause us to believe that the fed's monetary accommodation isn't going to be enough to fix end demand and ultimately it does. peewee have housing improving. we're calling it the fundamental sweet spot. have you housing and sales improving.

consumer confidence, university of michigan improving. they're all improving from historically weak levels. at this point in the cycle you don't want -- we don't want the things that people keep clamoring for. if you have very strong economic data, you don't have a historically accommodative fed, ultimately you do not have a recession until money availability shuts down, much less it's still easing. i think that's the most important point. that's why we're so bullish. >> let's put it all together then, paul. do what you do best, pull together history, the markets and politics in one little package. we were up over 60% of the markets under the first term of obama. second term what are we going to see? >> looking back over the historical record, these second terms haven't been very good. there's sort after sense of buyer's remorse on the part of investors. the average four-year return during a re-elect president's second term is 10% over that entire four years. the first year has averaged a negative return.

i think second terms, there's nothing left to be elected for so the administrations on both sides have tended to get a little sloppy. >> sounds a little bit like after brian sullivan's very passionate political interview. he has ran out of puff. >> thank you for not calling it a rant. >> it wasn't a rant. it was a passionate argument. next, taco bell getting a case of the munchies. where is the beef, jane wells? >> reporter: well, it's for dinner. these cattle are getting ready to go in the chute for the auction. there's also less of it. who's making money in beef and who's losing money in beef and how you're going to pay more -- after the break. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the streetsmart edge trading platform from charles schwab... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 gives me tools that help me find opportunities more easily. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i can even access it from the cloud and trade on any computer. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and with schwab mobile, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i can focus on trading anyplace, anytime... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 until i choose to focus on something else.

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>> it feels like that menu was devised by my children. it is the perfect menu, isn't it, for kids? where is the beef, guys? with cnbc's jane wells. she is in texas. where exactly are you though in texas, jane? >> reporter: i am in athens, texas, which is near new york, texas. i'm not kidding. i'm at an auction house. the drought was bad but not quite as bad as some appear. usda reporting total core production for the year with be 10.3 billion bushels. 100 million bushels less than analysts expected. the damage has been done to the beef industry. ranchers have been selling off their cattle early to get rid of the animals. that glut may have peaked. this auction had half volume today. not as much cattle after ranchers think they can hold out for better prices. a few ranchers are starting to buy replacement cows to we

plenish their herds. >> producers use the terms cautiously and slowly, just buying a few back here and there, really not trying to overstock. >> we're probably still in the long cycle. at least probably a three to five-year cycle before we start building some of these herds back up. >> reporter: the uska rais-- us raised projected prices. is everyone getting fattened off the calf? not the packers, not the slaughterhouses. producer margins which average $24 a head in 2010 went negative last year. will be terrible next year, nearly $44 a head in the red. some packers are losing $150 per head. they may start reducing schedules. so generally speaking, guys, even with the drought, corn farmers generally made some

money, ranchers generally made some money, packers generally losing money and you are generally going to end up paying more for beef starting next year. >> but it is what's for dinner, as you said, jane wells. thank you very much, partner. a big auto recall for potentially dangerous air bag problem. details coming up. is it time to call ron johnson's jcpenney experiment a failure? we'll debate that. sometimes investing opportunities are hard to spot. you have to dig a little. fidelity's etf market tracker shows you the big picture

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specs friday edition of street talk time. groupon about 90% off since last year's ipo. >> it is. i don't know why it is special friday edition. maybe because groupon is getting whacked. results and even worse guidance. billions down 12% quarter over quarter. the bet tomorrow line on groupon -- a lot of notes out there today. their core business is slowing. there were three downgrades this morning. let's not forget this stock, ipo'd at $20 a year ago. okay. i can't get mad about two things in one show. but wall street, come on. >> save your passion for herb. >> wait your turn, buddy. disney's also really falling today, big negative day for disney. got a downgrade as well.

>> stock down more than 5.5%. big dow component hit. eps was inline however it posted lower ad revenue in its media networks. lower ad sales and lower ratings cited but espn helps insulates disney more than others if what they call internet television cannibalization because you watch live sports live. >> that's right. >> don't steal herb's "buts." >> jpmorgan cutting to neutrally overweight, from $17 to $21. they believe cisco's guidance will disappoint. they think macro pressures like weak federal government spending, europe, they expect shares to be range bound for the foreseeable future. here's the good news if you're a cisco investor. despite the downgrade, they're not getting hit. the stocks found a little

support here. >> apple has quite a long way, the low of the record high it hit a while ago. ubs defending this stock today. >> no real news other than some analysts commentary on apple the last 24 hours. rbc saying we think the iphone 5 launch in china will be 10 million to 16 million units. still working on who's going to carry that. they've got a $750 target. ubs recently visiting the company. they maintain their buyer rating. they don't see any issues with gross margin pressure and ubs keeping its $780 target. >> in the context of how many people there are in china, 10 million to 16 million doesn't seem like a whole lot to me. >> could be a whole lot to apple though. >> they do indeed. jcpenney, big stock story today getting a big haircut. >> all you kids out there, remember their old slogan "doing it right"? they ain't doing it right

lately. posted a quarterly loss of -- get this -- 93 cents a share. the consensus loss estimate was just 7en cents a share. >> come on in here, herb. >> herb greenberg has been following the jcpenney story. >> say it loud and not so proud -- i got it wrong. >> let him say it again. >> he's right more often than not. he's feeling bad enough. he's right all the time. but you were horrifically wrong on jcpenney. you're going to take me to dinner and it is going to be fantastic! we're going to medieval times, baby! >> no. we are gring to popeye's. because -- i'll tell you why we're going to popeye's. jim cramer last night on the show -- >> who's right here, by the way. >> -- talk about the company who owns popeye's and how trendy it is becoming. i'm going to take the whole -- >> how much would that cost? $24.95 for a bucket for the whole staff? >> i'll bring the jug. >> folks, we don't know what the hell we're talking -- what the

heck we're talking. if you don't know what the heck we're talking about, i made a bet with herb on jcpenney stock. i'm not betting against jcp -- that's not my job. >> afce. thank you. i had popeye's last night. it was delicious. crawfish festival right now. it was delicious. >> popeye's aside, how bad was this for jcpenney? was this a kitchen sink quarter for ron johnson where he said dump everything bad? >> no. i think he's got inventory up the with a zo the wazzu. i was looking at the real estate and investment trusts involved with jcpenney because i worry about their finances. i still don't understand. has he moved out? is he in involved? is he involved? does he spend any time at the stores? these people are going to lose their jobs! this is a bad situation! >> don't forget, his aregar-- ha

runway here and he wants to get -- >> just the preferred broke day. >> we're not just dumping on jcp. liz dunn, senior analyst at mcquarry capital, you have an overweight, price tag of $37. what are you seeing that perhaps these guys aren't? >> i think we can't beat around the bush. this was a very difficult quarter. it was definitely disappointing but i think that the message coming in to this year is sort of the same message. they need to get their pricing right, they need to get their product right and they need to get their messaging right. think from a product standpoint we saw some real positive signs. the shops are trending up much better than the rest of the store. they're doing about double the productivity of the rest of the store. if you roll that out to 40%, which is where they'll be next year, you get about an 18% lift in sales. >> liz, do you think he was more

humbled on this call? did he sound more humble to you? johnson? >> i think the humbling happened earlier in the year. this was sort of consistent with how i felt he approached the street in the second quarter. i disagree with some of the earlier comments that he hasn't been fully engaged. i think he's very much engaged. i think most of the work he's doing is with vendors and i think he's definitely very, very committed. >> we have to leave it there. liz, thank you very much for joining us on jcp. >> jim, get a comment from you on something the president just said. get that in one second. here's my issue. you mentioned. the clearance sales were out of this -- in terms of just dumping of goods. what do you believe is the fundamental corps problem at jcp? seems like nothing's working. >> you bring in these stores within stores. okay? frankly, as much as i like some of the labels that they have, they're really nothing special. if i want to go to sephora, i

don't need to go to jcpenney sephora. >> we don't know how this is going to turn out. >> have you talked to any of the the suppliers like i have? >> no, i haven't. >> i'll tell you how they think it will turn out. they want to be paid. >> the president, you heard his press conference earlier, just came out with a statement. here it is, folks. president saying -- we've got a line in the sand now. the president saying very clearly, moments ago, he will veto any bill that extends the tax cuts for people who make more than $250,000 per year. there you have it, jim. the line in the sand is firm. what happens? >> that's great. that's great that we have a line. now it enables you to move. another line in the sand. maybe you go $250,000, maybe go to $400,000. >> some people are saying that could be disillusioned. a lot of people watching in iowa and ohio are not going to

understand the next thing i say. i'm going to sound like a jerk -- $250,000 a year in boston or san francisco or new jersey is a lot of money. but it ain't $250,000 a year in iowa. it is a fireman and an accountant combined income. you think that line could go up? >> i think there is a little give. i think it is the million that turns everybody off. that's a little lied krudicrous million. hedge fund 15%. if the republicans are really going to crucify mankind upon a cross of hedge funds being able to keep their 15%, william jennings, brian, it's wrong. >> again, listen. er equally despise both parties sometimes. why are the republicans being, as i called it, idiotic about this? it is chump change. >> because they won big on tuesday. they won big on tuesday. they actually believe that. i mean -- this ese people still think that the confederacy is in the hunt. just saying that the war was

lost, people! >> with our new theme at cnbc, they must rise above it. there will be a line in the sand, another line in the sand but they must -- >> because i've written -- i've said again -- the amount of money we're talking about here, folks. president today, no offense to the president -- made it sound like it is going to solve all our problems. federal government spends $10 billion a day. $10 billion a day. so if the buffett rule raises $60 billion to $80 billion, that's not insignificant. that's six to eight days operating income for the federal government. >> how about social security if the raise the age? >> why do wealthy people stop paying? >> i know roosevelt said no to that. >> we could probably raise that means testing a little bit. why are people getting full medicare benefits that make a million dollars a year. >> lincoln endlessly talked about the need for the rich to pay more. >> do you think from a tax perspective though -- we're getting kind of crazy on this, folks, off-script. this is when it gets fund. this is why we're seeing the

dumping of the stocks. not so much the fiscal cliff but the dividend gains cliff. >> sell now and buy it back later if you don't know. >> what are you advising people to do? >> you have to try to figure out if its in a taxable account -- obviously if not -- in a taxable account there is a chance the stock could appreciate so greatly. or look at the options of where you'll put that cash. i'm not allowed to invest in stocks so i'm getting nothing in my cash. if i could get a dividend yield, even at 4%, i'd like it. but for a lot of people, no. it's like maybe it is going to go to 40%. >> listen, i have read -- herb, you're sort of the etf guy around here. it could benefit etfs, could it not? there are some tax advantages certain etfs have over certain equities. >> that's what we don't know. >> that's the worry! >> let me ask it -- >> i'd rather have a bad known than this unknown. >> i'm sorry for production staffers going off the script. >> he's so worked up!

>> more worked up last night when he thought the hokies were going to win. sorry. >> wow. wow. that was rough, jim! >> i was watching you. >> you can make fun of my -- >> you made me leave the colt game to go watch your name. he's a hokie. >> here's the question. at what point -- is there to your view a line on capital gains that is the no-line of where people sell. 15%, fine, we can deal with that. 5%? what's that line where you just stop owning stocks? >> apple $550. if you think it can go to $600, then at this level, at this level tax maybe you hold it. but if it goes to $ 25, maybe y sell. >> if it goes to ordinary income -- >> you have to sell. that's silly. >> jim, herb, fantastic job. thank you for weighing in, guys. korean and other asian

automakers are going gangham style. ♪

i'm bill griffeth. coming up on "closing bell," larry summers, the president's former top economic advisor, weighs in on whether he feels the fiscal cliff deal can get done before the new year. we'll also hear from jpmorgan chase chairman jamie dimon on how he feels the market would react if the nation did in fact go off the fiscal cliff. remember the ceo we talked to about a month ago who said he would fire employees if president obama were re-elected? he's back with us today to tell us why he gave them all raises this week. that will be coming up at the top of the hour on "closing bell." see you guys then. a bill sign of the times in the auto industry. american carmakers have been trying to turn things around but in the end could we be a country that will forever more choose asian brands? phil lebeau, what's the story

here? >> the numbers say it all, mandy. look at the year-to-date market share for the big three versus asian automakers versus the european automakers. it's pretty clear. asian automakers -- talking korea, japan, even a chinese brand -- they're ahead of the big three. what's at play here? couple of things. first for the asian automakers, a big part of the resurgence has been the rebound by the japanese automakers following the earthquake and tsunami last year. more supply, better sales. on the other hand, the korean brands have also been expanding their production and their sales in the u.s. they are a big part behind the market share gains today there. conversely, the big three shares have all slid. their market share has all slid since the auto bailout. a number of dealerships have been closed down. since they have fewer dealerships and fewer brands -- a number of them went away, including hummer, including mercury. because of that, you've got two entities going in different directions here and the big three now trail the asian automakers here in the u.s. take a look at this. only one of these four stocks is

positive over the last two years and that's toyota. compare that with ford, gm and honda all considerably lower. guys, that's the state of the world when it comes to auto sales here in the u.s. >> that is the state of the world. we just have to watch those chinese automakers in the future as well. thank you very much, phil lebeau. john harwood has some context and background on what we've been getting out of washington. we've been getting lots of headlines on the fiscal cliff. bring it all together for us, john. >> mandy, jay carney, the white house press secretary, has just been briefing reporters and indicated that the white house would veto any bill extending the rates for the top end or tax cuts for the top end earners. this is a reiteration of the position the president's held for some time. remember, after extending those rates at the end of 2010, he indicated he was not going to go beyond 2012. i think this is not a sign that he's not willing to negotiate with republicans because the key point of what the president said this afternoon was he needs more tax revenue from the top end

earners, not necessarily tax rates. so this is the case of the president not surrendering his position but also remaining open to the new ideas he said he was going to listen to when he meets with john boehner, mitch mcconnell and democratic leaders in congress next week here at the white house. >> john, thank you very much. we'll have more throughout the rest of the day. we do hear this new bond flick "sky fall" is a really big deal. but first, adjusted for inflation. what is the highest grossing bond flick of all time? 1965's "thunderball" starring sean connery. there you go. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm totally focused.

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today's sunshine stock goes twilight. hundreds of fans are camping outside a theater in london for next week's premier of the final twilight movie. the new james bond movie "skyfall" is getting great reviews. seriously. some of the best we've seen all year. all right, julia boorstin. other than daniel craig's abs, what's the dig bibig deal about

movie? the big deal is that it has sound, which is the first part of making a great new movie. it's a talky, as we call it, where we get julia talking again. all right. let's talk more about this. paul, what makes "skyfall" so great? >> it's not just a bond movie. it's a great movie in and of itself. you don't have to qualify it. usually these bond movies are placed in another category. i'm going to go so bold as so say that should get a nomination for best picture. this would be a first for a bond movie. the director directed "american beauty." that was a best picture winner. he's got the track record. this film has action. daniel craig is a broken and battered bond. it's a different kind of bond than we've seen before, even different than the daniel craig

we've seen in the prooefevious films he was in. it's a great movie with no qualifier at all. >> paul, just sit tight for one second. i have some breaking news from nbc news. cia director david petraeus has submitted his letter of recommendation to the cia. petraeus taking over september 6, 2011. according to nbc news, david petraeus has submitted a letter of recommendation -- >> resignation. >> did i say resignation? >> you said recommendation. >> i did say recommendation? that's not right. i meant resignation. i'm not very good at this job. you get the point. david petraeus, letter of resignation. he's been there slightly more than one year. >> okay. let's get back to paul. paul, i want to ask you about the product placement. i understand there's record product placement in this bond movie, right? i think it's going to bring in, what, about $40 million in revenue. there's honda, heineken, sony. is this going to tick the viewer

off? it's a little blatant, isn't it? >> well, it's pretty interesting because anything bond touches is automatically cool and people want it. it's sort of the ultimate product placement franchise. if bond is drinking coke zero or driving a specific car, all of the sudden than car, that product, that soft drink, whatever it is, becomes instantly cool and the cachet that bond brings to that is huge. that's why all these product partners want to be involved. the fact it's arguably one of the best bond movies ever, it's great they're a part of it. >> sorry to keep jumping in. we have more on this story. paul, see you soon. >> thanks so much. >> learns from nbc news that david petraeus is resigning because of an extramarital affair. and he apologized for what he calls poor judgment. so 14 months in office and resigning due to an extramarital affair at the top of the cia. >> back in a couple minutes' time. [ male announcer ] this is steve.

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we want to get straight to john howard once again. we're learning about the resignation of the cia director petraeus. tell us more. tell us what we know. >> mandy, can you hear me? >> absolutely. we can hear you. >> mandy, our colleague andrea mitchell has obtained the resignation letter of david petraeus in which he says an extramarital affair caused him

to submit his resignation. nbc news believes that the deputy will take over on an a acting basis. this is a stunning development. david petraeus is someone who's had a very positive reputation throughout the community. >> okay, john howard. thank you for that. >> john, sorry about that. hold on. sorry to jump back in. one more question. can you tell us about mike morel, the man who will be taking over? >> to be quite honest, i don't know that much about him, so i can't tell you more. >> okay. and this is effective immediately? >> david petraeus has submitted his resignation, yes. we haven't gotten an official statement from the cia. >> it sounds like if there's any speculation about benghazi being a part of this, no. it's an extramarital affair. >> everything i know suggests that it's precisely what he said in his resignation letter. >> okay. john, thank you very much. >> in the meantime, let'